Significant rise in international traffic at Ogle airport

- OAI

The Eugene F Correia International Airport (EFCIA) at Ogle, experienced a significant increase in international passenger movement of 5,138 outgoing passengers and 3,705 incoming passengers in 2017.

These figures were disclosed by the Chief Executive Officer, Col. (Ret’d) Anthony Mekdeci of the Ogle Airport Inc (OAI), in his 2017 Annual Report at the OAI’s Annual General Meeting on June 20.

According to a release from OAI, which is responsible for managing the airport, the CEO also reported an increase in international cargo of departing cargo of 56,208 lbs and incoming cargo of 41,309 lbs. However, the airport experienced a decrease of domestic passenger movements with outgoing passengers decreasing by 14,190 and incoming passengers decreasing by 2,949, while domestic departing cargo increased by 1,409,926 and incoming domestic cargo increased by 99,055.

Mekdeci reported on a number of development works carried out at EFCIA by OAI during the year, the OAI statement said. These works included concreting the extension of the taxiway to facilitate aircraft traffic movement to the JAGS and Hopkinson locations, and completion of a fully air-conditioned solar-powered building to house Distance Measuring Equipment to be installed and operated by the Guyana Civil Aviation Authority.

According to the OAI release, the CEO reported that the main terminal building has benefitted from upgrading to improve its security capabilities at the airport, as well as the continuous upgrading and maintenance of the airport’s perimeter fence. Consistent with the government’s Green Guyana Policy, the EFCIA terminal building has benefitted from the installation of a 20KWH solar system at the airport, from the Guyana Energy Agency, on an experimental basis to demonstrate the reliability of solar power generation.

The OAI statement said that during the year, airport staff, including managers, duty officers and security, along with rescue and firefighting personnel, as well as airline operators had undergone extensive Emergency Response Training. The airport had also successfully completed a Full Scale Emergency/Contingency and Tabletop Exercise involving the simulation of an ATR72 aircraft accident and hijacking situation.

A Fire Safety audit of all the EFCIA’s facilities was conducted by US based Firefighting and Emergency Response Consultant, Capt. Jack McGovern. The airport has established its Runway Safety Team (RST), inclusive of all stakeholders, for the purpose of developing an Action Plan.

The OAI statement also stated that Michael O. Correia (Jnr.), Nicole Correia, Anthony Mekdeci, Ronald Reece, Marcel Gaskin, Malcolm Chan-A-Sue, and Timothy Jonas had been elected to the Board of Directors.